Monthly Archives: December 2012


President Mahinda Rajapaksa is lying

“We were like people marooned on a dissolving floe of ice; we dare not think of the moment when it would melt away”- Czeslaw Milosz (The Captive Mind)
President Mahinda Rajapaksa is lying.
The President is lying when he says that he was not in favour of the impeachment, initially. The President is lying when he says that […]

Read More
By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on December 14, 2012 at 12:22 am

Impeachment: A Rajapaksa style chainsaw massacre

“The first waves of a sea of fire….” Ivo Andrić (The Bridge over the Drina)
Sprint to the finish
The Rajapaksas, those Wonder-Brothers, have wrought another miracle. They have beaten Usain Bolt, hollow.
The impeachment of Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake deserves to enter the annals of world history and the Guinness Book of World Records as the fastest impeachment […]

Read More
By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on December 9, 2012 at 6:34 am

Sri Lanka: Tamil Women Coerced into Joining the Military

Women’s Action Network (WAN), as a collective of 11 women’s groups from the North and the
East, is deeply concerned by the recent efforts to recruit women into the military in the districts of Killinochchi and Mullaitheevu.
Post-war development has failed to provide the most basic needs for those who live in Killinochchi and Mullaitheevu, especially the […]

Read More
By Women's Action Network | Published on December 8, 2012 at 10:18 pm

The Rajapaksa government – nothing more than the LTTE by another name

When I returned home in 1995 with our pet Dalmatian with its spots, hostile crowds gathered around us at Katunayake with shouts of Koti-Balla (Tiger-Dog). On other trips I had been taken straight to the Katunayake Police Station, and held up at Vanuniya and released after my friend travelling with me was arrested.
Would be shot
I […]

Read More
By Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole | Published on December 8, 2012 at 5:32 am

More students activists in Jaffna to be quizzed by police over undisclosed charges

UPDATE: On the morning of 6th December, 2012, the Kopai Police have handed over a list of a further 10 students to the University authorities to be handed over to the Police for questioning, over an undisclosed charge. The list includes five students from the University of Jaffna (UoJ) Medical Faculty and the Presidents of […]

Read More
By | Published on December 8, 2012 at 1:53 am

Sri Lanka: Chief justice verbally abused and ridiculed as a ‘mad woman’ by PSC members

Media Release
6th December 2012
Today the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake walked out of the Parliamentary Select Committee in protest in the face of hostile and biased conduct of the government members of the PSC so as to ensure the dignity of the judiciary of Sri Lanka.
The Chief Justice reiterates that she is […]

Read More
By | Published on December 7, 2012 at 3:01 am

Deal with the past constructively

Potential to inflame
The events surrounding the attempts by students of Jaffna University to commemorate those
who died in the war, unless speedily corrected, has the potential to inflame ethnic tensions and obstruct the post war reconciliation process. The students were lighting lamps on November27, the date formerly commemorated by the LTTE as their Heroes Day. […]

Read More
By National Press Council | Published on December 7, 2012 at 12:47 am

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Absurdistan

“….Cicero’s tongue will have to be torn out, Copernicus’s eyes gouged out, and Shakespeare stoned. That is my system.” – Dostoyevsky (The Possessed)
Removed as usual
With the speed of lightening and without as much as a nano-ripple, the Rajapaksa regime
removed Neville Gunawardana, the ‘crime-busting’ Director General of the Customs.
Probing the leak rather than the company
Mr. […]

Read More
By Tisaranee Gunasekara | Published on December 6, 2012 at 11:54 pm

Call to protect Sharmila Seyyid’s right to free speech

“Subsequently, on 20th November 2012, a women’s rights activist from Eravur in Batticaloa, Sharmila Seyyid, during the course of an interview with the BBC (Tamil service) expressed the view that if sex work is legalised in Sri Lanka, it may protect sex-workers. Her comments have resulted in a backlash from some sections within the Muslim […]

Read More
By | Published on December 6, 2012 at 11:30 pm

Sri Lanka: The arrest of four Tamil students in Jaffna widely condemned

6th December, 2012
Statement Condemning the Arrest and Unlawful Detention of Four Students from the University of Jaffna, and Calling for their Immediate Release
We the undersigned, strongly condemn the arrest of four students of the University of Jaffna (UoJ) by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) on Thursday, November 29, 2012. While welcoming the release of Kanesamoorthy […]

Read More
By | Published on December 6, 2012 at 11:21 pm


Opinion

President Mahinda Rajapaksa is lying

“We were like people marooned on a dissolving floe of ice; we dare not think of the moment when it would melt away”- Czeslaw Milosz (The ...

Opinion

Impeachment: A Rajapaksa style chainsaw massacre

“The first waves of a sea of fire….” Ivo Andrić (The Bridge over the Drina) Sprint to the finish The Rajapaksas, those Wonder-Brothers, have wrought another miracle. They ...

Issues

Sri Lanka: Tamil Women Coerced into Joining the Military

Women’s Action Network (WAN), as a collective of 11 women’s groups from the North and the Women accessing legal AID in Vavunativu (File photo) East, is deeply ...

Opinion

The Rajapaksa government – nothing more than the LTTE by another name

When I returned home in 1995 with our pet Dalmatian with its spots, hostile crowds gathered around us at Katunayake with shouts of Koti-Balla (Tiger-Dog). ...

Issues

More students activists in Jaffna to be quizzed by police over undisclosed charges

UPDATE: On the morning of 6th December, 2012, the Kopai Police have handed over a list of a further 10 students to the University authorities ...

Issues

Sri Lanka: Chief justice verbally abused and ridiculed as a ‘mad woman’ by PSC members

Media Release 6th December 2012 Today the Chief Justice of Sri Lanka Dr. Shirani Bandaranayake walked out of the Parliamentary Select Committee in protest in the face ...

Statements

Deal with the past constructively

Potential to inflame The events surrounding the attempts by students of Jaffna University to commemorate those Protesters in Jaffna demand release of students who died in the ...

Issues

The Democratic Socialist Republic of Absurdistan

“….Cicero’s tongue will have to be torn out, Copernicus’s eyes gouged out, and Shakespeare stoned. That is my system.” – Dostoyevsky (The Possessed) Removed as usual With ...

Statements

Call to protect Sharmila Seyyid’s right to free speech

“Subsequently, on 20th November 2012, a women’s rights activist from Eravur in Batticaloa, Sharmila Seyyid, during the course of an interview with the BBC (Tamil ...

Statements

Sri Lanka: The arrest of four Tamil students in Jaffna widely condemned

6th December, 2012 Statement Condemning the Arrest and Unlawful Detention of Four Students from the University of Jaffna, and Calling for their Immediate Release We the undersigned, ...